Challenges

Countering the Unknown Unknowns

As a payments network, Global Financial Settlement Platform works with financial institutions across the globe. The platform processes high-value cross-border transactions 24/7, making it a potential target for threat actors seeking to compromise payment infrastructures. Given these high stakes, Global Financial Settlement Platform’s security focus extends beyond data protection to ensure the integrity and the availability of the entire network. The challenge was not just technology but credibility: the ability to show clients that security was real, transparent, and effective.

“Just because you deploy a tool and get alerts doesn’t mean you’re safe.”

Head of Cyber Security, Global Financial Settlement Platform

The Head of Cyber Security noted that the deeper you go in the stack, the easier it is for attackers to evade detection, making Sysdig’s system-level visibility essential. To build that level of protection, Global Financial Settlement Platform aligned its policies to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework well before going live. The company established clear requirements: a security approach that could satisfy global banks, cut through overwhelming alert noise, and ensure that threats targeting either employees or customers could not put the entire platform at risk.

Solutions

One Platform, Complete Cloud Defense

Global Financial Settlement Platform’s multicloud environment, which operates without outbound access, eliminated most traditional cloud-based tools that lacked the flexibility to adapt to its architecture. Falco, the threat detection tool created by Sysdig, provided a strong foundation with customizability and seamless security information and event management (SIEM) integration. But as Global Financial Settlement Platform scaled, they required a single solution to unify threat detection, vulnerability management, identity and access, and posture management in one platform.

Global Financial Settlement Platform selected the Sysdig Platform for its ability to deliver the same openness and flexibility as Falco while adding the depth Global Financial Settlement Platform required. Access to system calls provided a source of truth that attackers could not easily evade, and real-time detection ensured that threats were identified the moment they emerged. Sysdig’s flexibility also blurred the lines between traditional red teams (offensive security) and blue teams (defensive security), giving each side a deeper understanding of the other. For the Head of Cyber Security, this cross-team visibility gave the defenders greater confidence every day.

“Sysdig lets us see things at the lowest level, the actual source of truth.”

Head of Cyber Security, Global Financial Settlement Platform

AI-Powered Clarity with Sysdig Sage

To maximize their security team’s effectiveness, Global Financial Settlement Platform turned to  Sysdig Sage, the first agentic AI cloud security analyst, to focus the team’s attention where it mattered most. By applying runtime context, Sysdig Sage triaged alerts, surfaced real risks, reduced false positives, and gave analysts back valuable time.

This added up to more than 10 hours saved per analyst monthly, time that could be redirected to proactive security initiatives rather than chasing false positives. For the Head of Cyber Security, Sysdig Sage became a force multiplier for the team’s expertise.

“Sysdig Sage is now my first stop in the product so I can get a better understanding of where my team needs to focus and what action they need to take.”

Head of Cyber Security, Global Financial Settlement Platform

Global Financial Settlement Platform leverages Sysdig Sage to intelligently prioritize vulnerabilities based on what’s actually running in its environment with Sysdig’s deep runtime visibility and in-use insights. For Global Financial Settlement Platform, vulnerability management with Sysdig Sage quickly became one of the most valuable outcomes of the implementation. Global Financial Settlement Platform was able to identify redundant software components in its container images and remove them before delivery.

The result was leaner images and faster builds with fewer vulnerabilities to review; clients no longer had to raise concerns about inflated images. For global banks processing millions of transactions, this efficiency meant less wasted time and greater trust in the platform.

“If a customer scans a container image and finds a vulnerability, they are going to raise the alarm. With Sysdig, we can strip out what’s not in use before that happens.” 

Head of Cyber Security, Global Financial Settlement Platform

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Many banking clients also follow regulations such as the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which heighten expectations for transparency and make efficient vulnerability management essential. Global Financial Settlement Platform uses Sysdig to visualize and share vulnerability data with customers, which brings greater transparency to its clients and strengthens customer confidence.

Looking Ahead with Security Maturity

Global Financial Settlement Platform has always approached security as an ongoing journey, not a box to check. The company continues to expand its defenses, with cloud security posture management from Sysdig next on the roadmap. By strengthening protections across posture, workload, identity, and runtime, Global Financial Settlement Platform is reinforcing its defense-in-depth strategy and building greater confidence with the global banks that rely on its platform. For clients guided by regulations such as DORA, these steps also demonstrate a continued commitment to transparency and resilience.

“We don’t compromise on security. And Sysdig helps us keep that promise to our customers.”

Head of Cyber Security, Global Financial Settlement Platform

Partnership and Defense-in-Depth

Just as important as the technology was the partnership. “What I liked from day one was how Sysdig worked with us,” the Head of Cyber Security said. “They gave everything a human touch. It didn’t feel like we were talking to support or onboarding – it felt like we were having a conversation with our colleagues.”

Global Financial Settlement Platform’s defense-in-depth strategy with Sysdig has strengthened the team’s confidence in its security posture. Catching threats early and acting with clarity has reinforced its ability to protect its environment and maintain the trust of the global banks relying on their platform.

Building on that foundation, the company is continuing to strengthen security in ways that inspire confidence across the global banking community.